Plot Summary

After an introduction on the Breton Lay, the poem introduces Sir Orfeo, an English king who is also a skilled harpist. One day in May, his wife Herodis falls asleep under a grafted tree in their orchard. When she awakes, she begins to scream and claw her face; the king of the fairies has visited her and demanded that she live with him forever. If she does not go willingly, she will be violently attacked and carried away. Orfeo gathers his knights, but the queen disappears from their midst.

Telling his men that they must choose a new king, the distraught Orfeo takes his harp and begins to wander in the wilderness. He lives on the heath for ten years, in stark contrast to his former life. He often sees the king of fairies and his retinue, hunting and dancing. On one occasion he sees Herodis, but the fairies take her away before the pair can speak. Orfeo follows them through a cave and into a beautiful landscape with a bejewelled castle. Claiming to be a minstrel, he gains access to the castle, where he sees all the people taken by the fairies, including his wife. He enters the hall and plays his harp for the fairy king, who is so charmed by his music that he offers him a reward of his choice. Orfeo requests Herodis and, although the king objects, Orfeo holds him to his promise.

The couple return to Winchester, still in disguise. Orfeo approaches his steward, who welcomes the harpist in honour of his former king. When he plays, the steward recognises the harp, but Orfeo tells him that he found it beside a dead man. The steward shows his loyalty by weeping, so Orfeo reveals his identity and makes his steward his heir. The court rejoice and re-crown their king, while the harpers of Britain write a lay in his honour, and call it ‘Orfeo’.

From: Anne Laskaya and Eve Salisbury, The Middle English Breton Lays. Kalamazoo: University of Western Michigan for TEAMS, 2005.
Manusript: Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, MS Advocates 19.2.1 (Auchinleck)